Indianapolis - Brew-Drink-Vote-

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Microbreweries could sell beer for takeout on Sundays under a bill endorsed by a Senate committee Wednesday.

http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-in-alcohol-bills,0,2147098.story

They can also sell during voting hours on election day!!

Xmas Beer Trees Revisited

http://pivonation.blogspot.com/2007/12/beer-christmas-trees_07.html

Plus a few more I looked up this morning.

Uncle Billy's 2 Year Anniversary

Nice town, cooler name!

Down in Devon, down in Devon,
There's a village by the sea,
It's a little piece of heaven
And the angels call it Beer!

http://www.beer-devon.co.uk/

Black Star Beer Co-op Pub Brewery

Chantal and I just joined up as investor members, I remember looking into them back in 2005 but was to busy with my store to join at the time. I am hoping to become more involved with them in the future.

Black Star CO-OP Mission

To apply the models of co-operative ownership and worker self-management to create the best venue in Austin for the production and enjoyment of high quality beer.

Website

It's the first concept of it's kind and the plans are to open a pub with a brewery as well. There is a beer social once a month where you can meet other members, drink beer and listen to music.

When free beer is everyones favorite

I went downtown last night to take in a few promotional happy hours from the latest environmental trade fair. We started of at Scholz Garten with some live music and beer. The next stop was Iron Cactus, where the party hostwould give you a coupons for free drinks. They have a pretty wide selection of beers and some good top shelf liquors, but the majority of people were still drinking bud light or another domestic beer. If you ask me, if the drinks are free, try something new or maybe with a little more flavor. Of course once I figured out I could get a mixed drink for free, I put down the beer and started my own rum tasting tour!

On the way home we stumbled into the Whip In for a St Bernardus ABT12 as the nightcap. While I was there I picked up aBush or Scaldis Prestige and a De Koninck Winter Dark Ale as well as another Taj Mahal for a friend.

This guy celebrated St. Patrick's day a little to much.

Seems fitting for a day were everyone is Irish and gives us an excuse to drink. I wonder if they had green beer back around 3000 BC?

"Canterbury Archaeological Trust said the curled-up skeleton was an example of a "Beaker" burial because of the pottery vessel placed at its feet.

Education officer Marion Green said the "beautifully decorated" pot could have been "a type of beer mug"."

Read the full article here

Fwd: Email Sucks, sometimes......

Typically when I get a fwd email from someone, it is a tragic story with a life lesson at the end, or a feel good story about overcoming great adversity, lately it has been political with different reasons why a candidate is evil.

In most cases the story is usually false and it still gets passed around. This email started off the same way, friend of a friend sent me this story and they were actually there so it must be true, let me fwd it to you. I started reading with the usual skepticism trying to guess the outcome of the story, this one seemed like it was going to be a tragic story with a lesson at the end. So I read on the learn today's life lesson. Let me tell you, after reading it I was convinced that it needed to be shared, so not only did I fwd it to every person in my address book, I posted it here. Please read on.

-----Original Message-----
From: []
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 2:34 PM
Subject: Fw: Accident Photos



I actually had to think about whether to send this or not.....it's pretty
graphic



I almost cried when I saw this picture. It is absolutely gut wrenching.
It shows the importance of being properly strapped in.
A friend of a friend sent him this photo of a horrible highway accident
in Germany. The picture may be kind of hard to take for some of you. If
you look closely you can see what appear to be some survivors of the
accident still in the wreckage. Although the picture is quite graphic, it
makes you realize how quickly our loved ones can be taken from us.

My friend stayed on the scene to help and even though he performed mouth
to mouth on quite a few of them, none apparently survived.



Ha, I had to laugh and share!

Beer Bottle Symphony Orchestra

Australia's Victoria Bitter has launched a great video for it's products.



Did they really need to waste that beer at the end?

BenderBrau: Life size beer brewing bender robot.

People say I have too much time on my hands, check out this very cool homebrewing project.

The Bender Brewing Project

I did not build this, but I wish I did.

Gingerman in Austin

I am taking one of my just recently turned legal drinking age employees to the Gingerman this wednesday. Need to make sure he understands what good beer tastes like.

Feel free to come join us from some darts and pints, especially if you are buying a round or three!

Wedneasday, Jan 9th, sometime after 7.

Top 25 Beers on the Planet

I finally got a chance to open my Beer Advocate magazine from December and read it. It covers the top 25 beers in different categories as chosen by BA.

The top 25 beers on the planet was the first list. (The ones that made us drool, quiver, trade and go broke in 2007). Nice to see Live Oak HefeWeizen make the list at #14.

In the top 25 American Beers List, Live Oak HefeWeizen took the ten spot, and Saint Arnold's took #25 with it's Divine Reserve #5.

Happy New Year

A Year of Beer

I spent this Christmas in Dallas with my family, one of my gifts to my Dad was a selection of 80 different styles of beer, including over 100 different bottles of beer. These are beers I have tasted, collected, etc over the past year. Below is the list he will get to sample from all year.

US: Boston

Sam Adams Honey Porter

Sam Adams Brown Ale

Sam Adams Scotch Ale

Sam Adams Boston Lager

Sam Adams Black Lager

Sam Adams Boston Lager

Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner **

US: Colorado

Left Handed Brewing Company

LH Blackjack Porter

LH Sawtooth Pale Ale

LH American Pale Ale

LH Milk Stout

Breckenridge Brewing

Extra ESB Small Batch #471**

Double Hopped IPA Small Batch #471**

Christmas Ale *

Oatmeal Stout

Flying Dog Brewery

Oktoberfest*

Double Pale Ale

TommyKnocker Cocoa Porter*

US: Louisiana

Abita Pecan Ale

Abita Restoration Ale

Jockamo IPA

Abita Christmas Ale *

Heiner Brau Marzen (Microbrew)

Dixie Lager

Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager

US:Minnesota

Surly Beer

US: Oregon

Widmer Snow Plow *

Widmer Oktoberfest *

US: Washington

Pyramid Snow Cap*

US: Texas

St. Arnolds Brewing, Houston

Christmas Ale*

Oktoberfest*

Shiner Brewing, Shiner

Bavarian Amber 98*

Dunkelweizen

San Antonio, Pete’s Wicked Ale

Rally Cap Ale

Austin, Independence Brewing

Sisyphus 2007 Barleywine**

US: Delaware

Dog Fish Raison D etre

US: New York

JW Dundee Pale Ale

JW Dundee Amber Lager

JW Dundee Pale Bock

US:Unknown

Duff Beer***

Czech Republic

Velvet***

B.B. Burgerbrau

Zatec

Pilsner Urquell

Slovak Republic

Zlaty Blazant

Vietnam

Hue Beer

Germany

Ayinger Brau Weisse

Ayinger Ur-Weisse

Ayinger Oktoberfest Marzen*

Ayinger Celebrator

Flensburger Gold Lager

Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest*

Belgium

Blanche De Bruxelles

Chimay Red (Trappists)

Chimay White Cinq Cents (Trappists)

Chimay Blue Grand Reserve (Trappists)

Orval (Trappists)**

Corsendonk (Trappists)**

Pavel Kwak

Tripel Karmeliet

Hoegaarden Wit

Stella Artois

India

Taj Mahal

United Kingdom

Fuller ESB

Fuller Limited Ale 2007 ***

Banana Nut Bread Ale

Monty Python Holy Grail Pale Ale*

Holland

Windmill

Russia

Baltika 7

Ireland

Smithwicks

* Seasonal

**Uncommon

***Rare or Limited Edition

Mom's bottle tree

My mother has created many bottle trees, but this has to be the coolest so far. It was created using two existing Bois D Arc trees, rebar, lights and various bottles. Thanks to Max and Molly for posing. If you want to see some of Barbara's mosaic work, check out www.mollage.com

Pabst blue ribbon?

Funny email my wife sent me. It took me six years to get through gyna college, we usually drank bud light.

Beer Christmas Trees

My neighbor sent me this photo in an email of a cool bottle tree. It reminded me of the beer can pyramids my brother and I used to build at the Czech Club when we were kids. I figured there had to be more pictures to find, so here they are so far. I did not build any of these or take these pictures, just stole them from the internet.

Enjoy!!

Celebrate the Repeal of Prohibition

The 18th Amendment was ratified January 16th 1919.
Prohibition took effect 1 year later in 1920.
Bootleggers and the Speak Easy become the norm.
The 21st Amendment was ratified in 1932.
Prohibition was lifted in 1932.
Lots of people got drunk.


Celebrate the repeal today, I will.

Happy repeal day!!

Sam Adams Utopias are back

The limited edition 2007 batch of Samuel Adams Utopias will be presented in a numbered, bronze-colored, ceramic decanter shaped like a brew kettle and will have a limited release of just 12,000 bottles. For the first time this year, people who purchase a bottle will also be eligible in most states to receive a Samuel Adams Utopias custom- designed Riedel snifter.

Full article here

Drink a beer after you exercise, it's good for you!

"In fact, the researchers at the Granada University in Spain came to the conclusion after examining 25 students who were told to do strenuous exercise in temperatures of around 40C until they were close to getting exhausted.

Half of the students were given a pint of beer to drink, while the others received the same volume of water after the workout. Subsequently, the team measured their hydration levels, motor skills and concentration ability.

Prof Garzon said the re-hydration effect in the students who were given beer was "slightly better" than among those given only water. Based on the studies, the researchers have recommended moderate consumption of beer -- 500 ml a day for men or 250 ml for women -- as part of an athlete's diet.

It may be mentioned that past studies have revealed that sensible drinking of one or two units of beer a day could help reduce the risk of heart disease, dementia, diabetes and Parkinson's disease."

Read the full article here.

Fertile concept in beer advertising.

Brazilian brewers Nova Shin has created a unique way to advertise it's new non-alchoholic brew. They are taking the combination of attrative women, beer drinking and fertility to a new level! The models have been photoshopped to look pregnant, but the shock value is well established.

This isn't very suprising considering it came from Brazil, the country that brought us Carnival, maybe even the thong bathing suit. I wonder if they set up tastings in maternity or baby stores?